Kirilenko Defeated, Ivanovic Survives The PTT Pattaya Open

Maria Kirilenko collapsed to what must be one of the most frustrating and stunning defeats of her career on Wednesday when she was defeated 1-6 7-5 6-4 by 560 th-ranked qualifier Galina Voskoboeva in the second round of the PTT Pattaya Open.

PATTAYA, Feb 9 – The PTT Pattaya Open experienced its first significant upset of the week Wednesday when qualifier Galina Voskoboeva staged a remarkable comeback against No.3 seed Maria Kirilenko.

The third seeded Russian dominated the opening set with her more aggressive play, despite being broken as early as the first game with a return off a second serve. On the second point of that game astute observers might have caught Kirilenko momentarily gesturing to question a ball that landed on the baseline, forgetting that the Hawkeye line-calling system is not used in Pattaya and then continuing the rally.

Kirilenko – or as the scoreboard wanted to call her, Kirilanko – immediately recovered the break in the next game, winning the game to love. A winning forehand then gave her a further break for 3-1 and after yet another break for 5-1 Kirilenko served out the set without the loss of a point.

The second set continued in the same manner, with Kirilenko swiftly breaking twice to build a 3-0 lead. Voskoboeva managed to recover one of the breaks in the fourth game, but Kirilenko then broke to lead 5-2 with another winning forehand.

All she had to do then was serve out for victory, but she couldn’t do it. Voskoboeva, with nothing to lose, had begun to be more aggressive and the tactic paid off as she broke for 3-5 and held her own serve. Kirilenko served again for the match at 5-4 and held three match points at 40-0, but still it wasn’t over. The Kazak broke again for 5-5, held at love to lead 6-5, and then broke Kirilenko again for the set.

The beginning of the final set saw Kirilenko break for 1-0 by forcing an error at the net, but her advantage was short-lived as Voskoboeva broke back to level at 3-3 and then claim a further and decisive break at 5-4 before winning on her second match point.

“I was thinking that for 500 I was playing pretty good,” said Voskoboeva, who is returning to the game after missing seven months with a shoulder injury. “I was thinking I didn’t win any matches (before) from match points (down), and was waiting for one day when I do it.

“The first set and until the score was 3-0 (in the second set) I was not in the game at all, and then I started to play better. Of course when you are 5-4 and 40-0 down you need luck as well, but I didn’t think about it was match point. I was just trying to play every ball.

“My previous matches had given me confidence so when it was 4-all (in the third set) I didn’t feel like I was shaking you know. I just tried to concentrate on my game. I knew what I had to do which was to play aggressive and not to do a lot of errors.”

That wasn’t the end of the drama on that court, as second seed Ana Ivanovic was only three games into her match against American veteran Jill Craybas when the site was hit with a power cut. Even that wasn’t the end of the drama. She had already dropped her opening service game, and went on to lose the set 6-4.

Although the Serb then swept the second set 6-1 she still needed to save five break points, and in the third set she continued to struggle. She twice lost a break of serve against the 36-year old before breaking again to lead 6-5. This time she held on to her break to win 4-6 6-1 7-5.

Fifth seeded Italian Roberta Vinci had no difficulty in getting past Shuai Zhang of China, winning 7-5 6-1, but Chinese sixth seed Shuai Peng struggled to overcome a gallant challenge from Britain’s Elena Baltacha, breaking for 5-4 in the final set and then serving out for a 2-6 6-1 6-4 victory.

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